Mike V from Marsden

A huge thank you Peter for your part in preparing me for the most terrifying thing I have done in my life.

My story began some 20 years ago when back pain became a part of my life and over the years and many trips to see various orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons to decide what options I had and just prior to Covid a surgeon who had previously seen me 2 years prior informed me that my spine had gone from not bad enough for surgery to the too hard basket for him and he recommended me elsewhere. Eventually I consulted with Dr Adam Parr and Dr Anthony Athanasiou who agreed to my surgery as long as I was strong enough to get through surgery.

Luckily as a boy on the farm I drank a lot of milk and the Bone density scan showed I was in good shape, many tests by my Cardiologist gave me the green light showing my heart was in good shape. Blood tests were ok and my chance meeting of you through my son in law was I believe a major factor in my amazing recovery from one of the most dangerous surgery a orthopaedic surgeon might attempt.

I came to you and you wrote up a script to prepare me for my upcoming surgery which I followed to the letter. The surgery day arrived and I woke up in a lot of pain not realizing I had been on the operating table for 13 1/2 hours utilizing 2 of Brisbane’s best surgeons and an assistant working in tandem . My surgery had gone 4 hours longer than had hoped and had fused all of my spine from the pelvis to T4 originally we had hoped to fuse only up to the first 2 vertebrae . Unfortunately things were worse than expected and 8 of the Thoracic were also fused along with a reshaped lumbar spine. 6 day in intensive care, 1 week on the spinal ward and 10 days off in Hospital rehab I was released and then spent another 6 weeks as an outpatient doing physio 2 x3hrs each week.

Everybody that treated me were amazed in how well I had recovered and how well I healed. I am now well on my way having just finished a cruise for 5 nights and looking forward to my next one. I honestly feel that I might not have recuperated as well or even survived if I hadn’t taken you up on your recommendations and treatments.

A huge thank you again Peter.